A day after 33 trawlers with 550 fishermen went missing in Bay of Bengal following heavy rains, 27 trawlers were traced out after the weather improved on Saturday. The trawlers were traced through radio communication after they had drifted into the waters of Bangladesh, South 24 Parganas district magistrate N.S. Nigam said. Some of the
fishermen on board have taken ill and the Coast Guard is sending a hovercraft to evacuate them, he informed. Mr Nigam added that each of the fishing vessel had 16 to 20 persons, including the crew, on board.
CPRO of the Eastern Command of the defence ministry, Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani said: “Navy is despatching a R class ship with Chetah helicopters to carry out the search. One ship of Navy and one of Coast Guard are already on the job. Donier aircraft operation was affected due to bad weather. On the positive side communication has been established with some of the trawlers. Assistance of the fishing associations and merchant vessels were also sought.”